


Something Wicked Comes to Stay

by bananniemuffin



Category: Charmed (TV 1998), Haikyuu!!
Genre: Crossover, Mentions of Violence, Multi, Strong language at times, Teen Angst, ongoing, other dumb teenage bs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:28:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29158917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananniemuffin/pseuds/bananniemuffin
Summary: The year is 2045 and CeCe Halliwell is a student at Magic School. Except, Magic School isn’t exactly how you remember it. Two years ago, due to paradigm shifts caused by the “Great Awakening,” the Elders decided to “integrate” the school that has educated beings of good magic for thousands of years. The “integration” allowed young demons and warlocks entrance to the school to be educated alongside their counterparts. This decision of course led to outrage, much of which coming from CeCe’s own family. But was it really that bad of an idea?Future Magic School Au/Haikyuu!! Crossover
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sakusa Kiyoomi/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

CeCe Halliwell sat on the upper landing of the staircase, eavesdropping on the conversation below:  
“That sounds like a recipe for disaster!” her grandmother shrieked from the parlor. “How dare they think they can do this after everything we’ve done to reclaim and protect that damn school! Now they want to integrate?! Just let them in? What are they thinking?!” Grams continued her rant.   
“Piper,” a much calmer voice called. “I think this could be a good thing. The paradigm shifts-”  
“Oh, screw the paradigm shifts!” Grams snapped.   
The calm one, CeCe’s grandfather, did not take offense to her outburst and continued. “The paradigm shift made things better. Conflict has decreased and the balance of power has more or less remained the same. I think integration could end up being valuable to our side,” he explained.   
“Integration,” Grams scoffed. “They’re letting demons into Magic School, Leo. I would think that would bother you a bit more than it seems to seeing as they are responsible for our grandchildren, nieces and nephews’ education,” she ground out.  
“There are risks, of course. But maybe this could be an opportunity to bridge the gap between good and evil,” Grandpa offered.   
Grams laughed bitterly. “You are willing to risk our grandchildren’s safety to play nice with demons?” she questioned. “Wyatt, your father thinks it’s okay to send your daughter to school with a bunch of evil bastards. How do you feel about that?”   
Grandpa tried to protest but CeCe’s father spoke up instead.   
“I don’t think that is what Dad is trying to say, Mom,” he soothed. “I understand the point he is trying to make. Although I do worry for the safety of CeCe and the others. It’s time we tried to put an end to the battle of good versus evil. I agree with Dad that this could be a step in the right direction.”  
CeCe worried that Grams would lose her mind. Or worse, try to blow her father and grandfather up. She wouldn’t do that right? That could actually kill them now.   
“I have sacrificed so much of my life fighting evil for the “greater good” and now the Elders want to throw all of that away just to risk the lives of my family. No, I’m not okay with that,” Grams asserted.   
“There will be a meeting tomorrow night to discuss the issue,” Wyatt said.  
“Good. Damn Elders. They’re gonna get a piece of my mind. I’m too old for this crap,” Grams’ voice faded into the kitchen and was replaced by pots and pans banging around.   
CeCe’s eyes began to focus after returning to the present, sealed envelope still in her hand.   
“Make sure you give these to your parents. Do not open them beforehand. There will be a meeting on the matter at 6:30 tomorrow night,” the professor said as he finished handing out the letters.   
CeCe rested her head on her desk. She dreaded going home this evening. The echo of Grams’ words that she hadn’t said yet pounded in her ears.


	2. Chapter 1

The integration of Magic School was met with varying degrees of concern and outrage from students and their families. But, even so, the decision was already made, and demons were admitted. Even with extra safety precautions put in place by the Elders, many families pulled their children from the school. Instead, they chose to educate them themselves or to send them to public school. The Halliwell family wanted to do the same, but the oldest students refused. CeCe was the most adamant. She argued that because she attended Magic School for her entire education she would not fit in at a public school. She had never been in a classroom with non-magical students and she was uncomfortable with the idea. Besides, all her friends were at Magic School. Chloe and Adam Halliwell agreed with their cousin and stood with her. Their parents did eventually yield, but the agreement was conditional. The three oldest cousins would be allowed to continue at Magic School, but they had to demonstrate they could use “the power of three.” This was a ridiculous stipulation. It was impossible. They were not the Charmed Ones. They weren’t even siblings. The only hope they had was that each possessed one of Melinda Warren’s powers.   
Specific powers alone were not enough, the cousins soon found out. Over the summer they went through brutal training. They had to learn to fight together, what each of their strengths and weaknesses were and how their powers worked together. They did have a close relationship from being so close in age and growing up together, which helped, but it was still bitter work. Their parents conjured “replica” demons for them to fight. The difficulty of each battle increased.   
The pressure came to a head when one training exercise ended badly. While fighting a replica brute demon, Chloe was seriously injured. The trauma of seeing his cousin in that state awakened Adam’s healing abilities. He was able to save her without intervention, but that was the final straw for Wyatt, who believed they were pushing their children too hard to achieve something that was impossible. P.J. also had growing concerns with the intensity of the training they were forcing their teenage children through.  
“My daughter almost died tonight because of your “training” exercises. Your son is probably traumatized from seeing her like that,” She argued to Chris.   
“My child is my problem. Besides, it would have happened eventually. It’s probably better that it happened now than later,” Chris reasoned. “If this is too much for them, then so is going to a school with evil students,” he finished.  
Overhearing this exchange, CeCe and Chloe came up with a plan. They were going to prove to their parents that they could manage demons and use their own brand of “the power of three,” they just had to get Adam on board.   
The girls went up to CeCe’s room to find Adam lying on her bed, his arm over his eyes.   
“You okay?” Chloe asked him, as she and CeCe sat on the edge of the bed.   
Adam groaned and his arm slid back to his side. He looked at Chloe. “Are you okay?” he asked seriously.   
She nodded. “Of course I am. You healed me,” she assured him with a smile.  
The three teens sat in silence for a few moments before CeCe broke it. “We came up with a plan,” she said, waggling her eyebrows. Adam tensed for a moment and sighed. He never was a fan of their schemes.  
“What kind of plan?” he asked her reluctantly.   
“I’m glad you asked,” she giggled, almost evilly.  
The girls explained their idea to their wide-eyed younger cousin. He stared at them in disbelief.   
“Wait a minute, let me get this straight,” Adam said. “An hour ago, you almost died fighting a fake brute demon,” he said as he looked at Chloe. “And now, you freaks want to summon a real one to try and vanquish it. Do you have a death wish? Do you need to talk to someone?” he questioned.   
“Come on, Adam, you can heal now!” Chloe said proudly.  
“I can’t heal you if I’m dead! I can’t heal you if you’re dead!” he all but screamed.  
“Okay, okay. Keep it down. We don’t want the parents to hear,” CeCe shushed. “Listen, I am not going to public school next year. I am going back to Magic School even if it means I’m going alone. You don’t have to get involved if you don’t want to. I’ll just do it myself,” she said as she started to get up.   
Adam caught her wrist. “Wait,” he gave in. “You don’t have to manipulate me. I don’t want to go to a human school either. I’m in.”   
CeCe’s face brightened. “Yes! You are the best cousin ever!” she exclaimed as she and Chloe both attacked him with a hug.   
“Yeah, yeah. Get off me. You two owe me for this,” Adam said pointedly.  
“I’ll give you my notes from Wiccan History and write all your spells for you this year,” CeCe offered.  
“I’ll help you with potions and tell you if any of your crushes like you back,” Chloe promised.   
“Deal,” Adam grinned.   
“Okay, great. Call for the book.” CeCe told him.  
“What? What if your mom is using it and it just orbs out by itself?” he asked.  
CeCe rolled her eyes. “She’s out of town, the only other people here are our parents and they are currently arguing downstairs. Get the book,” she pressed.  
Adam sighed and held out his hands. “Book of Shadows,” he called. The book appeared in his hands with a swirl of white light.   
“Let’s get to work,” Chloe cheered.  
With that, their preparations began. They studied the Book of Shadows and found every scrap of information that was available on brute demons. Unfortunately, not much was available that they didn’t already know. They had to write both a summoning and a vanquishing spell, which was more difficult than they thought, especially since they couldn’t really practice them. They could only make sure that they were as specific and accurate as possible, and pray that they worked.   
The cousins were very thorough. They went over every detail and every possible thing that could go wrong and made back up plans to cover that. If the vanquishing spell didn’t work, they hoped that CeCe’s combustion power would be enough, but during their potions lesson with Grams the next day, they brewed a potion that replicated it just in case.  
“Hey, Grams?” Adam asked, flipping to the right page in the book. “Would it be possible if we could make this one today?”   
“Why?” Grams eyed him suspiciously.   
“I’ve always been jealous of you and CeCe. I want to know what it’s like to blow something up! Besides, you wrote the recipe for it right?” His words were dripping with feigned innocence and flattery.   
A slow smile spread across Grams’ face. “Yeah, okay,” she agreed, but the suspicion never left her eyes. She wasn’t born yesterday.   
Adam sent a covert wink to the girls when Grams was distracted.   
After they brewed and played with the potion, Chloe made sure to stash a few vials in CeCe’s desk drawer. The next part of the plan was to perfect using the crystal cage. This was purely to be sure that they could get the job done before they got attacked and things started going wrong. It would be humiliating if they needed their parents to bail them out. Adam and CeCe both orbed to the attic late at night so he could practice sliding the last crystal perfectly in place.   
When they felt confident enough, they put their plan into motion. One evening after training, they set up the crystal cage in the conservatory. Chloe called their parents into the room and joined Adam and CeCe, potions already in hand. When their parents arrived the three of them began summoning the brute. When he appeared, Adam slid the last crystal in place using his power. The brute began to fight to escape from his prison. The cousins joined hands and recited the spell they wrote together to vanquish him. The demon burst into flames signifying that their spell had worked. The cousins reacted excitedly, thrilled that they were successful. When they were done celebrating, they looked over to their parents, who were wearing varying expressions of shock and amazement.   
“Did our fifteen-year-old kids just…” P.J. stammered.  
“Mine is fourteen,” Chris stated. “Was that a brute?”   
“I didn’t think there were spells to summon or vanquish brutes,” Wyatt pondered out loud.   
The older Halliwells were impressed with their children’s performance, but that didn’t save the teens from a lecture about how recklessly they behaved. By the end, they admitted that the cousins had proved themselves and they would be allowed to stay enrolled in Magic School. CeCe, Chloe, and Adam were thrilled.   
Of the nine magical Halliwell children, three remained at the school and the younger six were pulled out and sent to public school. The oldest three cousins were excited to see what it would be like to go to school with demons. Excited, but also terrified. It was a thrilling mix of emotion. They couldn’t wait for school to be back in session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** NOTE** I wanted this to just be a nice little recap and then to get right into the story, but they had other ideas. I am but a vessel, so who am I to argue? The boys are coming next chapter I promise!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’m still experimenting with narration so if there’s inconsistencies or things seem awkward that’s why and I’m sorry. Also character descriptions... Sorry about those too.

Waves lapped at CeCe’s ankles, feet sinking further into the sand as she stared across the water. She could tell it was the ocean because of the salty brine in the air, even though the passage of water itself was narrow. On the opposite beach, a dark figure stared back at her from across the waves. She couldn’t tell anything about them, other than they were looking at her. This may have made her uncomfortable if it wasn’t something she’d seen before. Instead, it just left her frustrated.  
A high-pitched beeping snapped CeCe from the beach. She opened her eyes and sighed. After a moment or two of staring at the ceiling she rolled over to turn off her alarm. She groaned, wishing she could go back to sleep, but it was the first day of school and she needed to get ready. She glanced toward the window as she got out of bed. It was pitch black out, not even four a.m. yet. CeCe yawned as she headed for the bathroom, thinking back to her dream.   
She had been dreaming of the same beach since she was little. Before that, actually. Her mother dreamed of it when she was pregnant with her. The dreams started out as just the ocean, CeCe standing in the sand looking out across the vast expanse of the sea. Progressively, the ocean got smaller and another beach appeared. A while after that, the figure became visible, standing across from her. Although she had the same dream for her entire existence, she had no idea what it meant. No one else had any explanation for her either, other than it was probably linked with her powers. But she could have worse dreams she supposed. Some people might have even found them soothing, but they left her slightly unsettled at the lack of answers and made her feel like she kind of had to pee.  
After getting ready for school, CeCe went downstairs to find something quick for breakfast. She was surprised to find both her parents in the kitchen waiting for her, but it made her smile that even though she was seventeen now, and perfectly capable of getting herself out the door, they still wanted to see her off on the first day of the new year. Wyatt sat at the table, scrolling through his news app and sipping coffee. Her mother, Melanie, poured her own cup and walked to the table to sit across from her husband.   
“You didn’t have to get up this early,” CeCe told them as she entered the kitchen, but they both ignored her statement.  
“Good morning sweetie. Did you have good dreams?” Her mother asked  
“Wet ones,” CeCe answered. She closed her eyes, immediately regretting what she just said. Luckily her parents ignored the double entendre. She was glad she didn’t say that in front of Chloe.   
“The ocean again?” Wyatt asked. CeCe nodded in response. “Any new developments?”   
CeCe shook her head this time. “No, it’s still just a dark figure standing across from me.”  
“You’ll figure out what it all means soon,” Melanie assured her with an eerie tone in her voice. She always responded that way when it came to subjects like this one. It must come from experience; they did have the same power after all.   
CeCe pondered what her mother meant as she put a pop tart in the toaster.   
“It’s just frustrating. I’ve been having these dreams for as long as I can remember, but I still know nothing about them. It doesn’t make any sense. I wish I had more control.” She complained as she joined her parents at the table. She took a bite of her breakfast while Melanie spoke.   
“I know, honey. Someday you’ll be in full control of your powers and it will be easier. But even then, you’ll only know what you’re supposed to in the moment.”   
CeCe knew her mother was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept. She echoed this thought in her words, “I know, Mom. But it would still be nice to have all the answers.”  
Melanie chuckled and reached for CeCe’s hand. She squeezed it as she said, “But then there would be no adventure in life.”  
CeCe finished her breakfast, hugged both her parents, and exchanged “I love you’s.”   
“Be safe,” Wyatt called as CeCe was surrounded by white light and disappeared from the kitchen.   
Magic School was on its own plane of existence. The specifics of this plane were unknown to most people, but it didn’t really matter. Everyone who needed to know how to get there did, and only those with pure intentions were allowed through the barrier. At least that’s how the Elder’s explained it. The school itself existed for thousands of years at this point and not much about it changed in all that time. Aesthetically, at least. The sun was shining when CeCe passed through the barrier. She landed on the cobblestone path and looked up fondly at the timeless school. The architecture was both ancient and modern and it was huge, no one alive today knew exactly how big it was. CeCe was grateful she got to go to school in such a beautiful place. She smiled to herself as she walked along the path to the tree that she and her friends had made their designated meeting place.   
The three boys were already there when she arrived. Adam was sitting on the grass with a portable game console in his hands, fluffy, bleach blonde waves obscured his forehead and much of his eyes. Leaning against his back, was another bleach blonde boy, but his hair was straight and had longer, darker roots than Adam, giving it more of a two-toned look. The two boys had a similar build, both of about average height, or maybe even considered on the shorter side, and more wiry than anything else. The second boy was staring intently at the console he held in his hands. Laying in the grass front of them, was a smaller boy with wild red hair.  
CeCe yawned a good morning and sat down next to the red head. “Why does school have to start so early? It’s not even five a.m. my time,” she said to no one in particular.  
“How do you think Shoyo feels?” Adam questioned, barely looking up from his game. “It’s nine p.m. his time.”   
CeCe looked at the red head next to her. “Are you gonna be okay today, Sho?” she asked.   
The smaller boy, Shoyo, opened his eyes and squinted against the light. He stifled a yawn and smiled. “I’ll be okay. I started switching my sleep schedule around last week.”   
CeCe smiled back and turned her head to address the other blonde boy. “What about you, Kenma? Ready for a new year?” she teased.  
“I guess,” he answered, still fully invested in whatever game he and Adam were playing.   
CeCe met Kenma Kozume four years ago when they were in the same class and got paired together for a project. Kenma is quiet and reserved and CeCe enjoyed being around him. His presence introduced a much calmer energy to the chaotic atmosphere that surrounded her and her cousins at the time. It was a classic mischievous, extrovert adopts unassuming, introvert situation. They got along well despite the differences in their personalities and eventually became very close. When CeCe introduced Kenma to her cousins, unsurprisingly, he and Adam hit it off rather quickly. They had a few commonalities and bonded over them. One of them being their interest in video games, another being that Adam was perceived as the least erratic of the Halliwell trio. Chloe, however, was a different story. They got along well enough, but their personalities clashed at times. Although Kenma was much quieter than the Halliwells, and based on the reputation that surrounded them, it didn’t seem to outsiders like he’d fit in, but he did. And much to his own chagrin, he enjoyed their energy.   
Shoyo Hinata, however, visibly fit right in with the group. He was friendly and energetic. Shoyo was the newest addition and the youngest. He had only been a student at Magic School for two years, but when they met, Kenma and Shoyo took to each other right away. Soon after, Kenma introduced him to the cousins. They all loved his happy-go-lucky personality and welcomed him with open arms.   
“Why aren’t you playing, Shoyo?” CeCe asked, gesturing to the console in Kenma’s hands.  
“My mom won’t let me have one. She says they rot your brain,” he answered earnestly.   
“How old fashioned,” Adam commented before swearing. “Damn it, Kenma! Again?”  
Kenma shrugged. “No need to get sweaty about it, Adam. It’s just a game.”   
“This is the fourth one I’ve lost this morning!” Adam complained.  
“Guess I’m just built different,” Kenma deadpanned.  
CeCe leaned closer to Shoyo. “I see what she means,” she said in a mock whisper. Her comment caused the younger boy to erupt into a fit of giggles and her cousin to whip his head around and glare at her with icy blue eyes. She smirked and cleared her throat. “Anyone seen Chloe yet?” she asked the group.   
“She and Celine got here a little while before you did. They went inside already.” Adam told her, still glaring slightly.   
“They seemed tense,” Kenma commented.   
“They never argue verbally,” CeCe explained, knowing exactly what he sensed.   
“I can understand where Celine is coming from. Chloe is a bit overprotective of her,” Adam empathized for his younger cousin.   
Celine was Chloe’s younger sister and it was her first day back at Magic School since integration. Understandably, Chloe was worried for Celine’s safety and wellbeing and she let everyone know.  
“Wait, how do they argue if it’s not out loud?” Shoyo wondered.  
“They’re both empaths,” Kenma answered.  
“No need for words when you know exactly what the other is feeling,” CeCe added.  
Shoyo looked intrigued and then shuddered slightly, like he came to a realization.   
The bell rang, cutting off any further discussion. The group collected their belongings and headed toward the entrance of the school. CeCe’s mind wandered as they walked, passing other groups of students. In the two years that passed since demons started coming to Magic School, tensions had settled. The transition was understandably rocky in the beginning, both sides butting heads frequently, but eventually they adjusted, and settled into their new reality. Some students had even made friends with their new classmates. Every now and then there was still a scuffle, but disciplinary actions were taken, and things were seemingly resolved.  
At the front entrance of the school, glimmering marble steps lead up to a pair of giant wooden doors that were visibly ancient. Other students rushed around them, trying to make it to class on time. Once inside the school, the group of friends said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Adam and Kenma joined hands and orbed to their first period class which they had together. “See you in fourth period?” CeCe asked Shoyo. He nodded with a grin and they too headed to first period.  
The first half of the day flew by. CeCe had magical literature, potions, and lunch by herself, which she was used to. The administration learned early on in their education to not put any of the Halliwells in the same classes. This was a bit irritating now that they were maturing beyond their mischievous childhoods, but they understood that they created a reputation for themselves, and now they had to live with that.   
Fourth period finally came along. CeCe was currently sitting in “Theory of Practical Healing” a class for half-whitelighters who haven’t awakened their healing abilities yet. She listened to the teacher drone on about how “You need to have enough compassion in your heart to be able to heal others.” CeCe rolled her eyes internally. She knew what it took to gain the ability to heal, if you were going to anyway. She shook the thought away and looked over her shoulder at Shoyo, who to her surprise, was listening intently and taking notes on what the teacher had to say. The more she thought about it, it made sense that this class would be able to hold his attention better than another subject. Shoyo was a born-whitelighter. This meant that one of his parents, in this case his father, was a whitelighter who fell in love with a mortal and had a child. There were a couple of them around, but it was a rare thing. Most of the other students in the class were half-whitelighter (or quarter in CeCe’s case), half-witch. After sitting for what seemed like way longer than an hour and twenty minutes, the class ended.  
“Do you have a free period now, Sho?” she asked the red head as they packed up their materials. Before he could answer, they were interrupted by another student that was still in the classroom.  
“Hey Hey, Hinata!” a big guy, both tall and muscular, with spiky gray hair exclaimed as he bounded up behind Shoyo and threw an arm over his shoulder. “Halliwell,” he added with a smile and nod in her direction. CeCe smiled back.  
“Hey, Bokuto,” Shoyo greeted.  
“Did you guys have a good summer?” Bokuto asked. Both CeCe and Shoyo told him they did. “That’s great to hear! Let me know if you need anything! I gotta go meet up with Akaashi,” he said, unwinding himself from the much smaller boy.  
“How are you guys doing?” CeCe asked before he left.  
With a dreamy look in his eyes, a dopey smile slowly spread across his face. “We’re great, thanks for asking,” he said before sobering up. “Alright, I’ll catch you guys later,” he said as he orbed off to find his boyfriend.   
“They’re so cute,” CeCe commented, mostly to herself. “Anyway, you wanna come to the library with me?” she asked Shoyo.   
The library was close enough to the classroom they were in, so they decided to walk and chat. CeCe asked Shoyo what he did over vacation since she hadn’t seen him since his birthday at the end of June. He explained that the school year was a bit different in Japan, and summer break was a lot shorter than what they had at Magic School, so he was pretty much home alone during the day for the first part of their summer. He told her about how he took care of his little sister, Natsu and kept her entertained while their mother was at work. He also told her all about his friend Kageyama and how they practiced volleyball together for the rest of the break. Curiosity struck CeCe about how Shoyo managed to keep friends outside of Magic School and magic in general.  
“Where does your friend think you go to school?” she asked, seemingly out of nowhere.  
“Oh, uh, he thinks I go to an international school that my dad managed to get me into,” he told her. “It’s not exactly a lie, but it still sucks that I can’t tell him the real truth,” he said, sadly.  
CeCe looked down, nodding sympathetically. She didn’t realize her question would make him sad and she kind of wished she kept her mouth shut.  
“But hey!” he said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t think Kageyama would believe me even if I could tell him. And honestly, I don’t think he thinks I’m smart or creative enough to come up with any of this on my own. He’d probably think I just got it from a movie or something,” he chuckled awkwardly.   
“I’m sorry, Shoyo,” she said sincerely.   
He brushed off her apology with a wave. “It’s not a big deal, really,” he smiled, though it wasn’t as bright as usual.   
They walked silently for a while. CeCe thought about how Shoyo didn’t find out he was magical until he was thirteen and how he used to lead a completely different life. Since she was raised magical, she couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have her life totally uprooted like that. From stories that Grams would tell, she knew that it was really difficult to maintain relationships with people who didn’t and couldn’t know about magic. She felt terrible that Shoyo had to keep so much of himself hidden from his friend, especially when they seemed like they were pretty close. Under the sympathy she felt for her friend, she was also a bit irritated with him. If she had known that he was alone for most of the summer, she would have asked him to hang out more. It’s not like she couldn’t orb to Japan and be back in time for dinner. But she felt like she had already done enough damage, so she kept that irritation to herself. A few more moments of silence passed between the two before Shoyo broke it, saying he was going to use the rest room and he’d meet up with her at the library.   
CeCe continued down the hall, hoping that she didn’t upset Shoyo as badly as she was afraid she had. She pulled out her phone to distract herself. She had a text from her dad. “Hey, sweetheart,” It read, “We’re going to be having family dinner tonight at the house. Your Aunt Melinda is back in town.” As her eyes scanned over Melinda’s name, she felt her body being pulled forward. She blinked and when she opened her eyes again, instead of being in the hallway at school, she was standing in her attic in front of the Book of Shadows. It was open to a page with “Akuma” written across the top with Chinese characters underneath it, but she couldn’t see any other details on the page.  
“I don’t know, kid. I’d ask Grams about that. She would know better than me,” Melinda told her.  
CeCe felt herself walk into something large and hard. The “object” grunted. The noise dragged her back to the present. “I am so sorry,” she apologized, “I-,” she was going to explain, but the words died on her lips as she looked up and was met with a cold, hard glare. It was a demon boy. He was at least a foot taller than her. Based on how it felt when she walked into him, she inferred that he was in excellent shape. He had wavy, black hair and cold, black eyes. The rest of his features were hidden beneath a cloth mask, except for two moles stacked on top of each other over his right eyebrow. Under other circumstances, she might find them unique and maybe even attractive. But right now, she was intimidated. She felt herself shrink under his gaze.  
“Watch it, witch” a masculine voice said from her right. She didn’t look to see who it had come from.   
Neither CeCe, nor the boy she walked into said anything. He continued to glare at her and she stared back, not wanting to let her guard down, but she also felt frozen, like she couldn’t look away.   
“Come on, Omi,” a feminine voice whined. She tugged on the demon’s right hand. He pulled it from her grasp, his glare shifting from CeCe to the other girl. Finally, he stepped around CeCe and continued down the hall with his group.   
“Witches, man,” The other boy said.  
The dark-haired demon ignored him though and chose to address the other girl instead.  
“I have repeatedly asked you not to touch me,” he told her, bitterly.   
CeCe remained in the spot he left her. Her mind swam as she tried to process everything that happened in the last two minutes. On top of the confusion she felt about the premonition, she was mortified. She felt betrayed by her powers and body. How could she keep moving if she wasn’t mentally present?  
“Are you okay, CeCe?” Shoyo asked as he jogged up behind her. His voice helped shake her out of her internal struggle.  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she responded. “Demons are rude as hell.” Shoyo snorts at her joke, that being enough to convince him she was alright. She offered a small smile and they continued to the library.   
Kenma and Chloe were already there by the time they arrived. They sat together at a round table in the far corner of the room. Chloe seemed anxious, nerves rolling off her in waves CeCe could feel from across the room, even without being an empath herself. Kenma did his best to ignore her, opting to focus on a game instead.   
“Have you had any premonitions today?” Chloe asked CeCe before she could even sit down and say hello.   
CeCe was taken aback by her cousin’s question. How’d she know? she thought to herself.   
“Uh… about what?” she asked out loud. She felt Kenma’s gaze shift to her curiously.   
“Celine!” Chloe shouted impatiently, the outburst earning her dirty looks from students at surrounding tables. She lowered her voice when she continued, “It’s her first day and I’m so worried about her. I haven’t had any either.”   
“Well, if you haven’t had a premonition about her I’m sure that means she’s fine right?” CeCe reasoned.   
“No, that doesn’t mean she’s fine at all!” Chloe raised her voice again.   
The boys stayed quiet and let CeCe try to calm her cousin.  
“Chloe,” CeCe said in her most soothing tone. “I’m sure Celine is fine. It’s not like she’s never been here before and she knows how to get to us if she needs help.”   
Her words were not enough to douse Chloe’s anxieties.  
“She’s never been here with demons before! I’m gonna go find her,” Chloe vanished in pinkish-red light, not even bothering to get up before beaming to find her sister.   
With that discussion over, Kenma piped up.   
“So, what was it about?” he asked CeCe nonchalantly.  
“What was what about?” she asked, confused about what he meant.  
“Your premonition. You only asked, ‘about what.’ You never said you didn’t have one.”  
In their four years of friendship, CeCe still couldn’t get over how perceptive Kenma was. It was kind of unnerving at times, how he knew so much more than other people did just by paying more attention to small details.   
She sighed. “Uh, I was in the attic at home, talking to my aunt. Nothing special,” she shrugged.   
Kenma seemed satisfied with that answer until Shoyo asked, “Is that why you walked into that guy, CeCe?”   
She groaned. She hadn’t realized Shoyo saw that much of the unfortunate interaction.  
Kenma snorted “You walked into someone? Who?” he asked.   
Shoyo answered for her, “Those really tall Japanese guys. The demonic ones. I was afraid they were gonna kill her.”  
“Oh yeah, those guys are jerks,” Kenma agreed. “You okay?” he asked CeCe.  
“Just a bit humiliated,” she huffed. She was jealous of Chloe’s premonitions. They were more like flashes of the future instead of actually going there. Chloe also had way more control of them than CeCe did. She didn’t walk into people in the middle of them, for instance. CeCe searched for a way to change the subject and remembered the text from her dad. “Do you want to come to family dinner tonight?” she asked both boys.  
“No thanks, I can only take so much of your family,” Kenma declined.   
“That’s fair. What about you, Sho?”  
“Oh, I would, but I have plans with Kageyama later,” the red head answered. “Thank you, though,” he said with a smile.   
“Sure,” she smiled back.   
The three students settled into a comfortable silence, only breaking it to ask each other a question about assignments they were working on. CeCe tried desperately to not think about the debacle in the hallway. She couldn’t help but think about her premonition though. How random was that? CeCe hated the visions that gave her no context. She wondered if it would have been longer if she hadn’t walked into that guy.   
Shoyo’s voice interrupted her thoughts when he asked Kenma what a certain kanji meant. Cece knew the book would be written in perfect English when she looked at it, but she glanced at the page anyway. That was another cool thing about Magic School, and what made it so easy for them to educate magical students from all over the world. Students heard and read their native language no matter where they were within the plane. Sometimes it tripped CeCe out to think that when she spoke to Kenma, for example, he heard Japanese even though she was speaking English and vice versa.  
A nagging feeling ate at CeCe as she thought about her premonition and the characters on the page in the Book of Shadows. “Hey Kenma? Do you know anything about who or what Akuma is?” she asked when he was done answering Shoyo’s question.  
Kenma’s face fell slightly and he was quiet for a moment. He cleared his throat before he answered, “Uh yeah, he’s a demon, based in Japan. He mostly works above ground now. He seems to be heavily involved with organized crime these days.”   
Cece felt like there was something he was leaving out, but she didn’t pry. She knew he would tell her when he was comfortable enough, he always did. “That was part of my vision,” she explained. “I was looking at his page in the book.”  
Kenma nodded his understanding and the group fell back into silence, working on their various assignments. Around ten minutes before the end of the period, Chloe returned. She walked back to their table and sat down. She looked both flustered and slightly more relaxed.  
“I embarrassed her.” She said sheepishly.   
“What did you do?” CeCe asked accusingly.   
“I may or may not have beamed directly into her classroom.” Chloe admitted after a moment of hesitation. “I got chewed out for interrupting her professor’s lecture on exposure. Then he used me as an example.”  
“Is Celine okay?” CeCe asked, more for Chloe’s sake than Celine’s.  
“Oh yeah, she’s fine. She probably just won’t talk to me for the rest of the day,” Chloe told her. “What classes do you guys have next?”  
Shoyo answered first and told her he had Wiccan History. Chloe smiled brightly.  
“So does Celine!” Of course she memorized her sister’s schedule as well as her own. “Would you keep an eye on her for me?” she asked him very seriously as she ran a hand through her thick, dark hair, her smile turning saccharine.   
Shoyo cleared his throat and agreed, a hint of pink tinged his cheeks.  
“You are the best, Shoyo,” Chloe praised, while she made direct eye contact with the younger boy. Her soft, brown eyes bored into his. Shoyo’s blush deepened and he looked like his brain might short circuit.   
“Chloe,” CeCe said her name like a warning.   
Chloe tore her eyes from the bright red, red head and turned her focus back to CeCe and Kenma.   
“What about you guys?” she asked, tone shifting slightly. Kenma rolled his eyes at her.  
“Kenma and I have something called “Tactical Magic,”’ CeCe said. “Whatever that is.”  
Chloe scrunched up her face. “What the hell? Are they gonna use you guys to raise an army or something?”  
“I guess we’ll find out,” CeCe shrugged.   
Kenma and CeCe walked to class together silently. He always found it easier to keep his mouth shut around Chloe, only speaking to her when she asked him something directly, but this seemed different. CeCe wondered if there was some lingering tension from the Akuma conversation.   
They walked into a large, airy classroom. It was located in one of the towers, so the far wall of the room was curved, making it a semi-circle. All the desks were pushed to either side of the room leaving a large open space in the middle. They were instructed to remain standing as they entered. Murmurs from other students filled the room. They mostly asked each other if anyone knew what this class was about.   
The bell rang and two men came to stand in front of the class. CeCe recognized one as Takeda, a whitelighter and the school’s counselor of sorts. He had curly, black hair and brown eyes. He wore thick framed glasses and a soft, approachable expression. The other man was almost the total opposite of Takeda. He was taller and broader than the counselor and had blonde hair that was held out of his face by a headband. He had multiple piercings in his ears. Overall, he looked like someone you might cross the street to avoid. This guy was clearly a demon.   
The demon spoke first. “Hello, welcome to Tactical Magic. My name is Ukai and I’m going to be your instructor for this class.” Takeda cleared his throat from beside his counterpart. Ukai rolled his eyes and added, “Takeda is here in case you wanna drop the class or if you end up with emotional trauma, I guess.”   
“I’m here to make students more comfortable,” Takeda corrected.   
“Right,” Ukai snorted. He inhaled to continue speaking but acknowledged a student who had their hand raised instead. “Yes?”   
“What is this class about?” the student asked.  
“I was getting to that before I was interrupted,” Ukai told the student. “This course is to evaluate and develop how you fight against the opposite side.”   
A beat of silence filled the classroom before a wave of voices crashed over them, all varying degrees of confusion and outrage in their tone.   
“So, you’re teaching them to kill us?” a voice asked from behind CeCe. She couldn’t tell whether its owner was a witch or a demon. It didn’t matter at this point.   
CeCe looked at Kenma, his amber eyes slightly wider than usual. She took his hand and squeezed gently. He looked at her, his features relaxing slightly.  
“What do the Elders have to say about this?” another student asked.  
Concerned chatter from other students continued to fill the room until Takeda finally regained control.  
“Alright, enough,” he said sternly, surprising some students with his tone. “The Elders developed this course to provide a controlled environment to teach you all to defend yourselves outside of this plane. This is meant to keep you safe. All of you,” he said pointedly.   
The students processed the whitelighter’s words and the meaning behind them. They eventually settled down and silence fell over the room. Ukai glanced gratefully at Takeda before he spoke once again.   
“Today we are going to do an exercise to get a feel for your individual strengths and weaknesses,” he said, getting right into it. “I’ve already paired you off, one demon or warlock, one witch. You’ll have two minutes to do your best to subdue your partner. Powers and hand to hand combat are both allowed, but no weapons.” Then his tone changed, “It really is a shame they don’t allow them anymore. They used to have a bitchin’ selection.”  
Takeda shot him a weird look.   
Ukai cleared his throat and called the first pair of names. The two students walked to the center of the room and faced each other from opposite ends of the open space. The instructor set a timer for two minutes and told them to begin. When their two minutes were up, the round ended with the demonic student as the winner. The next two names were called. This went on for a couple of rounds, sometimes the witch won, sometimes the demon. As CeCe watched the other students spar, she tried to come up with a plan of her own. She decided that simply freezing her opponent and anything they threw at her would be sufficient. Another pair of names were called. When their round began, CeCe looked over at Kenma again. He seemed like he had relaxed, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, watching the other students spar. Kenma shouldn’t have any trouble with this exercise. He may have seemed unassuming, but he was one of the most powerful students at Magic School. He had the power of thought projection, meaning he could create images and show whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. It made him formidable, but also put him in danger.  
“Kozume, Kuro, you’re up,” Ukai called.   
Kenma walked to the center of the room with his hands still in his pockets. His opponent, Kuro looked familiar to CeCe. She had seen him around a lot in the last year, hanging out with Bokuto. She was pretty sure he was a warlock. He was tall and had jet black hair that he wore in an interesting style. He looked like one of those “scene” kids Aunt Melinda used to talk about.  
“Begin,” Ukai told them as he started their timer.   
“Let’s see what you can do,” Kuro said in a rather cocky tone.   
Before he could take even a half a step forward, or blink, Kuro’s eyes glazed over. He was already trapped in Kenma’s illusion. Kenma stood the same way he had been before the match started, hands in his pockets, looking at Kuro. Neither of the boys moved for the full two minutes. Kuro couldn’t have fought his way out of the projection if he wanted to. Finally, the timer went off and Kenma let Kuro free.   
“Uh, okay… Kozume, good job I guess,” Ukai said, not really sure about what just happened.   
Kenma walked back to CeCe and reclaimed his place beside her. Kuro stared after him with glassy eyes for a moment before he too walked back to where he had been standing in the group.   
Cece leaned closer to Kenma. “What did you show him?” she whispered.   
“The meadow,” he answered simply.   
Ah, the meadow. She thought back to the first time Kenma had shown her the meadow when they were fourteen. It was gorgeous. Bright sunshine and pretty wildflowers surrounded her. There was a crystal-clear brook that babbled in the distance. The main attraction, however, was the guy that joined her. It was that one guy from that one band. The cute one with the swoopy hair. She smiled to herself as she thought about it now. That was the point of the meadow, to show you your greatest love or biggest crush and distract you with them. Kenma couldn’t see who they were though. To him it was just a white figure.   
CeCe was jolted out of her happy memory by Ukai’s voice calling her name.   
“Halliwell, Sakusa, your turn.”  
A nervous pit that wasn’t there before settled in CeCe’s stomach. She walked to the center of the room and saw her opponent. Dread washed over her as she looked into the same cold stare from earlier. It was the boy from the hallway. The one she walked into. Well, this should be interesting, she thought to herself.   
“Halliwell, huh? This should be interesting,” his deep voice rumbled through her, mirroring her sentiments.


End file.
